Pauline's Return
by EchoEternal
Summary: One-shot. Whatever did happen to Pauline after the incidents with Donkey Kong? Helping out with toys? When did she get to the Mushroom Kingdom for that? A short story that rediscovers the original damsel and how she met back up with Mario. Added the brand new Pauline tag!


How does Pauline not have a tag on here? Outrageous! There's only one way to settle that. PAULINE STORIES, GO! ...Anyone?

* * *

Never again, my darling. It echoes in my head. I think back to the first night, in my apartment.

"NO! Never again," I bellowed at him, throwing off my torn pink dress and slipping into a nice red one.

"Pauline, darling, please," he begged, fidgeting his cap in his hands. "Think of all of the places we can go, the people we can see! Traveling will be great—"

"Oh, I've seen plenty," I cried out, in more ways than one. My voice was loud, but breaking. Tears slid down nice and easily. "Wouldn't you like to try seeing the world from the back of an ape?"

He sighed, caressing my hand, easing onto my bed while I sat at the desk. "Pauline, I'm sorry. I never meant for that to happen."

"I know you didn't, Mario," I sobbed. "But I can't stand the idea of that ever happening again! I…I want a nice life. A normal, quiet life, where I don't need to worry about traveling places or giant apes and their children kidnapping me."

"I'll never let that happen to you again," he whispered. He squeezed my hand tightly, his large and strong hand enveloping my smaller and more delicate one. He hushed me gently, rubbing my back with his free hand, alternating between that and brushing my long and messy blonde hair.

Blubbering, I took a deep breath in. "You can't promise me that," I exhaled.

"Why not?"

"Because there's no guarantee. That was your ape." Taking my hand from his, I slid around in my seat. His mouth was down in a frown, his brown hair a bit messy on top. His expression was a mixture of sorrow and confusion, enhanced by his deep blue eyes. "Donkey Kong was yours," I continued, not letting his appearance break me down again. "It wasn't the first time that I've dealt with that ape and not the first time that you needed to rescue me from him. Life has simply been awful dealing with that alone—"

"Pauline, he's gone," Mario reassured me, taking his cap back up from the bed and placing it on his head. "I've sent Donkey Kong away. He's on a boat trip to a new zoo, a place for him to live with other animals. We can go away together now, wherever we'd like."

That was just it though: Mario always wanted to keep himself on a journey. He had already traded jobs, from working as a carpenter to a plumber. It wasn't his first job change. He even talked his brother Luigi into working with him. And it was Luigi that told me of their frightful experiences in the sewers, with what sounded like creatures that this world knew nothing of attacking from the pipes below.

And yet, somehow, that hadn't fazed Mario in the slightest. He still wanted more. My boyfriend continued his job as the plumber, which went from a stressful job to extremely hazardous. Secretly, he enjoyed it; Mario always jumped into these kinds of thrills, this excitement. But right now? He wanted to take off some time from work, to drag me away to exotic places of the world, away from a nicer and quieter life at home. It was like a maddening addiction for him.

"Please," he begged me. "Tomorrow, after work, I'll get you and we'll go away somewhere nice, somewhere beautiful—"

"Somewhere dangerous," I finished for him. "Mario, no. I want to settle here." His eyebrows rose up a bit. "After work tomorrow, I want to stay here, with you coming to my apartment and spending a lovely dinner with me. When you take off of work, I want to go about the city that I know and love. One day, I want to have a family with you and raise them right here." I looked straight into his eyes. "I want a normal life."

He bit his lip. I knew he wasn't ready to settle yet. We were young still, hardly out of college, still in a time of dreams. Mario wasn't looking to live his life out already; he still wanted to do more. I originally felt the same way, but after the repeated incidents with Donkey Kong and Junior, I didn't want to take any more risks. Reality hit hard; I was not immortal. Neither of us could keep these things up forever.

"Is this an ultimatum?" He asked, looking out the window, then back again at me.

"I don't know," I admitted. While my mind screamed that it was, my heart bled for him. I ran my hands through my hair; I used to love it curly and puffy, but it was a disaster after today. "After work, tomorrow, we'll have a talk."

He nodded quietly. "All right." Then he rose from my bed, leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek. If it were any other day, I would have kissed him back. Not today though. I wanted this to be firm; I wanted him to think long and hard. What I wanted most of all was to see how he valued me.

Quietly, he walked over to the door. I turned back toward the dresser, watching him walk out. He paused, waiting in the hallway a moment.

"Won't you ever want to do anything…exciting, or adventurous, again?" He had to ask, unrelenting for the night.

Through the mirror, I looked to him. Gently, I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Never again, my darling." He nodded and shut the door behind him.

Back then I was young and foolish, saying silly things like that.

I place myself at fault because the next night, he didn't come back to my apartment. When I called his house, no answer, not even from Luigi. Instead of thinking rationally, I panicked and cried, thinking that he had chosen against me, thinking that he wanted to leave me.

A week after, I received a postcard from him. With it came a picture of Mario, Luigi, and small folk standing all around them, with white hats and red spots on their heads. In between the brothers stood an elegant looking woman, dressed in a pink dress, with long blonde hair that sat under a crown.

Needless to say, I didn't take the first part well, slamming my fist down onto my dresser. With my teeth grinding together, I tossed the picture aside and read the letter.

"Darling Pauline,

While working on the pipes with Luigi last week, we went too far in and discovered a strange new world. It's called the Mushroom Kingdom. My brother and I needed to fight off a giant beast that the people called Bowser, as well as his numerous minions. We even managed to save a royal princess who rules the land! I'll send a picture to prove this all to you, but as soon as you get it, send me a letter and let me know you're coming!

Your darling,

Mario"

My eyes focused on "giant beast," "minions," and "princess." No, no, no! Absolutely not happening. What kind of a fool did he take me for? He chose to travel somewhere strange and fantastic over staying here with me? And he took Luigi in my stead! And the two came up with a clever story to tell and this magical world to go with this! And he found a princess? No, just another woman. Within a week? No! There's not a chance that I'll follow through with this, not ever!

My thoughts were wild with anger that day. Confused, horrified, hurt. Every little emotion joined together as the day went by. Nothing was rational about this. Eventually, I went to bed, sliding the postcard and photo away in a drawer.

"If he's through, then so am I!" I sobbed to myself.

The next day, I dyed my hair brown again, after having it cut and thinned out. It was still long, but straightened now. For the longest, I had gone back and forth between the blonde and brunette Pauline. Mario preferred the blonde hair, but I found brown to be much more enjoyable; it was something darker, more mysterious, more alluring, in my mind.

After that, some time passed, and I began dating again. The profession I held was perfect: manager at a toy company; that piqued several interests all around. But the men that came after, while charming for a date or two, did not last. We clashed in interests, desires, and plans for the future. The last one had me thinking that I needed to change myself, find a way to become someone that could better cooperate with people. We had an argument in public, to the point where he flat out called me the most stubborn woman he had ever met. We both stormed away from probably the absolute high point of embarrassment for me.

Returning to my room that evening, in the glow of the warm, red sunset, something possessed me. My thoughts raced back to my first love, to Mario. Opening my dresser drawer, digging through it, I carefully lifted the postcard out again.

The address simply read: "Princess Toadstool's Castle of the Mushroom Kingdom."

Wiping my face clean and reapplying make-up, I thought carefully and calmly to myself. Mario never did return. Was he…happy? Where he had gone, did he finally find a place to settle? Was the story…real?

While a little more mature, I was still young, still naïve about things.

Previously, I had dated an investigator, so I practiced some detective work. He thought that he had me charmed by teaching me tricks, but I studied more closely to the work than to him.

That night, I went to the pipes below the sewers, where my first boyfriend used to work. Looking at myself in a puddle, I stared at the lavender eye shadow, a long red dress and heels, matching my ruby lips, and golden jewelry adored along my arm and ears. Carrying only a purse and a flashlight, I thought I was out of my mind.

Perhaps I was, but I journeyed further into the sewers, waiting for terrible monsters to appear and chase me away. My heart raced through the night, terrified, but thrilled as well. Eventually, I stumbled upon a tall, aged green pipe, which stuck out from the ground. The only way in was to climb on top of it and…well, go down, I suppose.

_Don't do it_, I argued mentally. _You'll never come back, Pauline_.

_But I want to see him_, I reasoned back. _And I want to know if this world is real_.

Unbelievable. It might have been my heart calling for love, but truthfully, it was the delight I took in an adventure that pressed me onward. It took a few attempts, but I had managed to scale the pipe. Once at the top, all I could see was a dark hole that would lead to nothing.

Sitting at the end of it, I swung my legs around for a bit. Pulling out a mostly used tube of lipstick, I flicked it down the hole and listened. Waiting for a long time, I heard no sound return. Sighing, I wondered if I should go back here.

_Be smart, Pauline_, my rational side argued. _You have your whole life ahead of you. He might not even be down this way._

_It's the end of the line. He's nowhere else_, my thrill-seeker fought back. _After this afternoon's debacle, what do you want to go back to?_

Without thinking it out further, I put the flashlight away. Clutching tightly to the purse, I pushed myself down the pipe and into a slide of darkness. For the first while, I screamed, plummeting down to who knows where? But after a bounce or two, I began to giggle, and it turned into a roar of laughter. Now I remembered why I had begun to work at a toy company: for fun. It was the entire reason that Mario and I had dated for so long: he was fun. What had this slide of doom become? Fun.

At least, it was enjoyable until I did hit the bottom. Shutting my eyes both from pain and the morning sun, I squirmed around on the grass. Wait. Grass? My eyes snapped open and, once they adjusted, I gasped. The land I was now in was a beautiful valley of grasslands all around, overlooking a large castle in the distance. Looking skyward, I saw no pipe. Turning behind me, I saw it in the ground…somehow, I had lost my sense of direction.

And yet, the thought of going back didn't cross my mind right away. Instead, I briskly moved forward, heels and all, across the land. There were floating blocks and strange creatures all around. A frightening brown one, in a spade shape of a kind, leaped forward at me. Screaming out, I rushed backward, only to watch a small figure fly forward and stomp down upon the creature. Looking back again, I saw a small man in a blue vest, wearing white pants that looked like a diaper, and a white hat with red spots. The small man turned and smiled at me.

"Well, hello there!" he cheered out. "Fancy meeting you around here! We haven't had a visitor come that way in ages!"

My breath was suddenly taken away and I could only nod. Somehow, the small man seemed not to mind.

"Miss, are you all right?" I nodded again. He scratched his round chin. "Can you tell me your name?"

Breathing in again, I coughed out, "P-Pauline."

"Hmm." He thought for a good minute, looking me once over. "I don't think I've heard of any Paulines before. How'd you get here?"

"My boy…a dear friend of mine sent for me," I answered as I scrambled through my purse and handed him the postcard and picture. "His name is—"

"Wow, you know Mario?!" he cried out, looking only at the picture and not reading the postcard. "I can't believe it! Come this way!" And we ran off, past the meadows of flowers and shining green grass, avoiding all kinds of creatures and jumping all around the blocks and hills. At one point, he stomped on a nasty and large turtle that walked on its hind legs. Helping him, I kicked the shell at others that were chasing after the small man. Eventually, we made it to the castle. It was hers; it had to be.

"Princess Toadstool's," I gasped.

"Gosh, no one calls her that anymore," the little man quipped. "Everyone knows her by her first name: Princess Peach."

"Peach," I repeated as he led me inside. "And…your name?"

"Oh, where are my manners? I completely forgot! I'm Toad," he cheerfully chirped as he introduced himself, shaking my hand.

Forward into the castle we went, slowly making our way to the throne room. I was awed by the pink, red, and gold adornments all around, gazing at statues and banners, staring at other Toad lookalikes as I chased after my leader. At last, we arrived, and Toad looked around, noting the absent throne.

"They must be eating breakfast already!" He called and ran to the next door. "Come on, we'll get you some too!" And so we raced off to the dining hall, and I continued to lose myself in how gorgeous the world around me had become. At last, we had arrived, and I looked up.

Seated on the far end were a few figures, but only three caught my eyes: a blonde princess in pink, and two brown haired men in shirts and blue overalls, one under a green hat, the other red. Their eyes widened as we stepped forward.

"Toad, dear," Peach called. "Who is this?"

"Her name is Pauline, Princess," announced Toad. "She's a friend of Mario's! And she came the same way he and Luigi did too!"

"Pauline?" Luigi piped up. "Is that really you?"

"Y…Yes," I timidly answered, still trying to take everything in. We walked over to them and I looked over Luigi, then to Peach. Finally, I let my eyes take in Mario.

"Pauline…" was all he could manage. He was shocked to see me, clearly. Slowly, he smiled, but it was too late; I had already seen how Peach laid her hand on his shoulder, seeking his reassurance, his protection.

And then…I felt myself smile. Mario had settled, taking his place as no mere plumber, but what I imagine to be this princess's knight. He could have adventures to no end and still find a place for love at the end of a day. Where one would think that I would find anger, I found peace and understanding. This wasn't just a place Mario had stumbled across; this was now his new home.

"How are you, Mario, my old friend?" I happily sounded, wearing a lovely smile. His dropped and he looked confused. But Peach reached down to his hand and they exchanged a look, as she took in his surprise, and he her smile. They both gladly looked back to me.

"It's been some time," Mario chuckled. "Pauline, how are you?"

"I'm well," I replied, but then giggled quietly. "Well, now I am. Last night was quite the adventure."

"What took you so long to come here?" he asked. "Was…was it an accident?"

"Oh no, darling," I answered. "I finally dug out the postcard after I misplaced it a while back. Finding it took much longer than I realized."

"Forgive me, Pauline," Peach gestured kindly. "I forgot to welcome you to my kingdom formally."

Laughing, I waved her off. "No need, your highness. It's enough of a welcome just coming here."

"It's funny, actually," Luigi chimed in. "Peach and Mario were talking about creating a toy line for the kingdom."

"How perfect," I laughed again. "I'm actually a toy manager back at home."

"Oh, that is perfect!" Peach cheered. "You have great timing! Simply delightful! Please, do join us for breakfast and we'll talk more about it."

"Certainly," I agreed. "Let's get something delicious and get to business!"

Mario and I locked eyes for a moment. He was amazed, taking in what had befallen me. Gone was the woman who worried too much about the dangers of world and wanted to carefully spend her future with her man. In her place, I stood, strong and independent, brave enough to come to a new world and take everything in.

As I took a seat between Luigi and Toad, Mario cleared his throat and I looked up to him. "Pauline, I…are you sure about this? Don't you want to go home and think it over a bit more?"

Grinning, I scooted the seat forward. "Are you kidding? Never again, my darling."

* * *

All right, there's a one-shot featuring Pauline. Nope, she doesn't get Mario in the end. Currently, Pauline is single while Mario is...um, pining after Peach? They're...not officially boyfriend/girlfriend, huh? ...Psst, Pauline, he's still open.

Nah, she's good. It's not much, but Pauline's come a long way since being harassed by Donkey Kong. Recently, she's...been harassed by Donkey Kong over toys. Wait, what?

In all seriousness, while Nintendo has astoundingly not forgotten about Pauline after all of these years (seriously, give them an applause; there are a lot of WHOLE FRANCHISES that Nintendo just lets...I don't know, sit quietly in a corner until a super crossover that celebrates history revives them. Like Nintendo Land, the NES Remixes, and Smash Bros.), the fan-base for Mario's original leading lady is...possibly nonexistent. A shame, but then again, Peach took over and no one complained. Heck, even I couldn't give Pauline a break with Mario, and she's the star of the story! Poor Pauline.

But, history should still be acknowledged, and not having a tag for Pauline on this website kind of tore it for me. I'm sure that someone has used her in a romance story between Mario and Peach, but probably not as a headline character. If anyone has, where is her character tag on the search?! Because I checked and I didn't see her. Most disconcerting indeed.

Anyway, in my absolute most annoyed roar of rage (ok, it was really just a mouth drop in disbelief, but anyway), I crafted a Pauline story that specifically didn't have her end up with Mario. To me, it proves that she can be a stand alone character and doesn't need to be forgotten as, "oh, Mario's first." Now she can be forgotten as, "oh, Mario's co-worker." (I'm sorry, it was there.) Seriously, considering her current appearances in the Mario vs/& Donkey Kong games with the Mini toys, I figured: "Hey, Pauline works with toys. Why not have her be known as a toy manager? That would explain her sudden return after a giant ape traumatized her multiple times!" Getting from Point A to Point B was a little more difficult though, which is how this story mashed together. I mean, she clearly splits up with Mario at some point, and then suddenly turns up in the Mushroom Kingdom, so...it works, right? RIGHT?!

Well, let me know! If you're delighted about Pauline getting over Mario and/or not being all catty with Peach over him, or you're just acknowledging her existence again, send me some feedback via review or message! (Really, you read this far, so why not?) But yeah, just a one-shot here. Hopefully we'll see some more Pauline stories in the future (besides being Mario's first and Peach's rival and DK's victim, and...ok, I'll stop). Until then, thank you for reading!

P.S.: Hey, Luigi's mostly single, right? I mean, Rosalina and Daisy are warring over him, but he's not as tightly wrapped up as Mario is with Peach, right? Psst. Pauline. Luigi's fair game! Uh...ok, maybe not.


End file.
